Carpe Diem
by Your Iron Lung
Summary: College life. A unique experience for every kind of student; especially if you happen to have a father who thinks he's a hippie, a naïve younger brother, a musician and an annoying red-head who room next door, and annoying gay friends. Ah, such is life.


_Dear Mom,_

_Me and Roxas are gonna do great in University; we're rooming together, just like you arranged. Which is good 'cause there're a lot of weird people here; but I'm sure we'll be okay. Classes don't start till next week, and we're still moving in. Just some small stuff we left at dads, so he's gonna stop by and drop 'em off. Well, we hope to see you soon!_

_Love, Sora._

Roxas and Sora sat on the curb beside the road outside the dormitories, waiting for their father to bring by their last possessions so they could finish moving into their dorm. Sora, the brown-haired blue-eyed boy, began to draw circles in the sand that gathered near the cement while his blonde brother Roxas lay back on the grass, gazing at the sky.

It wasn't too hot outside, but Roxas still felt a tad uncomfortable; the sun was rather attracted to his black clothing which made him a wee bit warmer than he'd have liked. He glanced up as someone put a foot down near his head and turned to watch as a slate haired boy entered the dorms. He sat back and closed his eyes, breathing deeply until Sora prodded him.

"Hey, does that look like Dads van to you?"

At the word 'van', Roxas bolted upright, watching as a large vehicle rattled down the street.

"Oh hell, I think it is."

They watched together as their father rolled to a shaky (and very squeaky) stop in the van that looked like it had tumbled out of the Little Miss Sunshine movie as he gave his sons a lazy peace sign and put his van into park.

Roxas buried his face in his hands, glad none of the other students were out at the moment to see their hippie father as he stepped out of the van.

"'sup, my little dudes?" he said, taking a wide stance in all his bell-bottom glory.

"Hey, Cloud." Sora said, getting up to follow their dad around to the back of the van where they began to unload boxes from the back.

Roxas followed shortly, after making sure absolutely no one was around to see that he was associated with this man. They unloaded a few boxes, setting them onto the curb in a systematic fashion. After they were done, Cloud got back in the van; playing the Grateful Dead gently as he gestured to his two 'love children' to approach the window.

"Now listen, my little dudes, college life ain't gonna be easy; it'll be hard and oppressive, but don't let the establishment get you down! You gotta stick true to yourself, got that?" Sora nodded as Roxas watched in dim fascination as his father rolled a joint lazily in his fingers, lighting it up and sticking it in his mouth.

"Uh, dad, you can't-"

"Don't call me 'dad', little man! I'm Cloud now; 'Dad' is just an oppressive term the man uses to chain men to the real world, but I won't be chained down! I'm a free bird, flying high 'mongst the clouds, man!"

"Er…right…"

Cloud watched him behind his purple tinted circular glasses as the smell of pot quickly surrounded them.

"What?" asked Roxas, uncomfortable under his fathers gaze.

"You need more color in your life, man, more variety. Take a walk on the wild side, y'know?"

Roxas scowled.

"I happen to like the choices I've made in my lifetime."

"Sure, but are you happy?"

"Isn't that what I just said…?"

Cloud shrugged, taking a deep hit from his joint, then sighed and wiggled his pinky at them.

"Alright, my little freedom fighters, look out for each other, and watch out for the man! And don't forget to call Aerith every once in a while. I'd say you could call me too, but, I don't have a phone."

"Right on, Cloud!" Sora exclaimed as Roxas nudged him hard in the ribs.

"Don't encourage him." He hissed.

Sora pouted, but directed his gaze to his dad who was busy studying the sky through the windshield.

"Is that all, Cloud?"

"Yeah…" he said slowly, dragging out another puff of his weed, which may or may not have been laced with something extra..

"Then leave." Roxas demanded, crossing his arms and frowning.

"Alright." Cloud said, grinning lazily to himself as Sugar Magnolia continued to play.

He started up his van, struggling to put it in gear until it made a rather ugly noise and began to jerk; resulting in the old BMW sputtering out and cutting off, making Cloud laugh.

"Hey, you young dudes wanna start pushing?"

* * *

Roxas grumbled to himself, carrying his boxes in his arms, making his way up the stairs as Sora skipped on ahead of him, blissfully unaware that he had passed their room as they made it to their floor.

"Gets it from Cloud…" Roxas murmured to himself.

"Hey, emo kid!" The boy who would've been adored by Nazi's continued on, despite having a tall man walking briskly after him, waving what appeared to be a CD case fervently in his hand. Roxas followed Sora down the hall, checking the room numbers as he passed by.

"Hel-lo! Emo kid!" the lanky man behind him began to turn into a brisk trot in an effort to catch after the blonde boy.

"405, 406…407…408 and 409. Wait, are you serious? How did I not realize? Room 409." He stared in mock humor at the Bullet for my Valentine song reincarnate and chuckled to himself a bit. He soon took notice that Sora had skipped down the hall farther than was necessary and called out to him to please 'Skip his giddy ass back down here.'

"HEY! EMO KID!"

Roxas turned as someone yelled loudly in his ear, surprised as a man with a pair of bright, emerald green eyes nearly mowed him over. Roxas fell over onto his backside, confused as the man with the spiky red hair stood over him, grinning.

"Hey, emo kid."

Roxas blinked. "What?"

"You uh, you dropped your…" he checked the CD case he was holding quickly. "You dropped your Dethklok CD back there."

He presented Roxas with his Underwater Album that he had unknowingly dropped on the stairwell, and appeared rather proud at having returned the album like a good college student would.

"Oh, uh, thanks." He said, taking the CD, still in mild shock.

The man grinned, scratching a black mark underneath his eye.

"Thought you might want it back so you can party with all your underwater friends."

"Huh?" Roxas was beyond confused by the time Sora had come back down the hall.

"On the side of the case it says 'Intended for Fish Only.'" The man said, his grin still plastered on his face.

"Really!? Sounds environmentally friendly! Lemme see that, Roxas!" Sora commanded, snatching the CD away.

"Oh, my names Axel, by the way. Commit it to memory." He said, holding out his hand to help Roxas up.

"Like the singer?" Roxas commented, taking Axel's hand and helping himself up.

Axel laughed.

"Not quite; I got an 'e' in my name. A-X-E-L. Got it memorized?"

"Er…yeah…"

Neither of them had noticed Sora scrounging through his belongings to draw out a CD player and popping in Dethkloks latest release. He listened for a few seconds, then yelped, yanking out the earplugs and looking at Roxas with a stern glare.

"Roxas! This isn't happy music!"

"No shit, Sherlock." He remarked dryly as Sora scoffed and crossed his arms.

Axel started laughing again as Sora glared at the CD angrily, muttering things about how fish had weird taste in music.

"So, you guys freshmen or what, emo kid?"

"I'm not emo, jackass. My name's Roxas." The blonde said defensively.

"Yeah, sure, when you listen to stuff like Dethklok and live in a Bullet song, that makes you about as non emo as Marluxia not being gay."

"Huh?" Roxas asked, exasperated with Axel and his vague way of explaining things.

"Don't worry about it; you'll meet him soon enough." Axel winked.

"O-kay…"

Sora looked between the two of them as a slightly uncomfortable silence fell amongst them.

"Sooo…Can I get the key, Roxas? I kinda wanna finish unpacking."

"Oh, yeah, me too." He turned to Axel. "Guess we'll be seeing you, then."

"Sure thing!" Axel said, taking his leave (a quick bow). He walked approximately three steps before opening the door to the room directly beside theirs, and, winking at them yet again, promptly shut it.

Sora giggled as Roxas unlocked the door to their room, laying his box on the bed closest to the wall, taking out a few things and arranging them to his liking. Roxas did the same.

It was an ordinary college dorm room; it had a sink and a mirror, two desks and a small dresser on either side of the room with a window at the foot of Roxas' bed (without shades, Roxas noticed dryly). Sora must've finished unpacking, as he came and laid himself out on Roxas' bed, watching him take out some other CD's.

"Since when were you interested in music like this? I thought you were into The Monkees and things like the Beatles." He said, examining one of his CD's with mute interest.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe when dad ran off with that hippie guy, Leon?"

"He goes by Squall, now." Sora remarked, looking at the back of a Hawthorne Heights album.

Roxas snatched his CD, putting it back in alphabetical order on the top of his dresser. "Oh, big difference. They're both named after stuff in the sky; big whoop."

Sora smiled. "So, that Axel guy seemed pretty cool."

Roxas snorted. "Pssh, no, he seemed like a total noob."

Sora threw a pillow at him. "Don't use your game speak when talking to me, it's really confusing!"

Roxas smiled. He was definitely going to have fun here.

**A/N: **I'm not sure how this idea really came about; I found it in one of my old writing notebooks a couple days ago and found I kinda liked it. I found it slightly amusing, and thought maybe a few of you out there would too. So, I fixed it up and here it is! Let me know what you think; seeing as how I have no idea where to take it haha. Peace 8D


End file.
